Capital Birmingham is a local
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
owned and operated by
Global Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...
as part of the
Capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
radio network. It broadcasts to
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
from studios at
Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...
in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
City Centre.
In April 2019, Capital Birmingham was merged with a sister station in
the East Midlands to form
Capital Midlands
Capital Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Birmingham, parts of the Black Country and the East Midlands from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre.
...
.
History
The station began broadcasting as
Choice FM
Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on DAB Digital Radio, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and Global Player. It specialises in hip ...
on 1 January 1995, after taking over the licence previously operated by
Buzz FM
Buzz may refer to:
People
*Buzz (nickname), a list of people
* J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner (born 1967; aka ''Dr. Buzz''), American forensic psychologist and journalist
Fictional characters
*Buzz, a character in the 1987 American comedy movie '' Rev ...
. Four years later, Choice was renamed as Galaxy after it was bought out by Chrysalis. Galaxy was sold off to Global Radio in June 2007 in a £170 million deal which saw the group take over
The Arrow,
LBC
LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...
and
Heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...
.
The station was relaunched and re-branded as 102.2 Capital on 3 January 2011 as part of a merger of Global Radio's
Galaxy
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...
and
Hit Music
''Hit Music'' was a weekly British chart newsletter; sister publication to ''Music Week''. ''Hit Music'' existed for almost nine years, supplying the official UK music charts (as compiled by Gallup and later OCC/CIN). The founding editors were ...
networks to form the nine-station
Capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
radio network. In April 2013, the station along with
Heart West Midlands
Heart West Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands from studios in Birmingham.
History
Heart began broadcasting to the West Midlands on Tuesday 6 Septe ...
moved to new studios at Eleven
Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...
in central Birmingham.
Station merger
On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed the station would be merged with
Capital East Midlands
Capital East Midlands was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network, broadcasting to the East Midlands from studios in Nottingham.
It launched on 3 January 2011 following the merger of Tren ...
. As of Monday 8 April 2019, the regional output consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with networked programming from London.
Format
Unlike other stations on the Capital network, the 102.2 Capital licence was to cater primarily for
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
black music rather than a 'contemporary/chart music-led service'.
The radio station format stated that the service should provide 'a rhythmic-based music and information stations primarily for listeners of African or afro-Caribbean origin, but with cross over appeal to young white fans of urban contemporary black music'.
On 1 July 2011,
Global Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...
requested to change the formats of Capital Birmingham and
Capital Scotland
Capital Scotland (formerly known as Beat 106, XFM Scotland, and later Galaxy Scotland) is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global. It broadcasts to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two citie ...
which have obligations from previous owners - this is to enable all nine Capital stations to be inline. On 17 November 2011 it was announced
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
approved two format change requests.
Ofcom approves Capital format change
Radio Today, 17 November 2011
In February 2014, the station resumed opting out of networked programming for two hours each week, broadcasting an overnight specialist show featuring Afro-Caribbean music.
Capital Birmingham's transmitter is located at Metropolitan House
Metropolitan House, also known as 1 Hagley Road, is a commercial building that has been developed into apartments in Birmingham, England. It is situated on the A456 Hagley Road at Five Ways. It was designed by John Madin.
Radio transmitters
Th ...
on the A456. It is also available on DAB via the Birmingham, Coventry, and Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford multiplexes.
Notable former presenters
*Edith Bowman
Edith Eleanor Smith (born January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' on BBC Radio 1 until 2014 and has presented a variety of ...
*Sacha Brooks
Sacha Brooks is a British radio presenter and DJ from Nottingham, England. She is currently employed by Global Radio.
Sacha's radio career started on the pirate radio station Globe 107.7fm in Nottingham and she went on to launch Choice 102.2 i ...
* Rich Clarke
* David Dunne
*Andi Durrant
Andi Durrant (born 1981) is an English radio presenter, company co-founder, disc jockey and record producer from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Durrant currently hosts The Dance Music Archive radio show on Kisstory in the UK
Radio presenter
He ...
*Stephanie Hirst
Stephanie Hirst is an English radio & TV presenter currently heard on Hits Radio. She has hosted '' Hit40UK'' and the weekday breakfast show on Capital Yorkshire '' Hirsty's Daily Dose''.
Career
Hirst started her career at age 12 at 96.3 R ...
*Dave Kelly
* Adele Roberts
* Steve Sutherland
*Margherita Taylor
Margherita Taylor (born 26 April 1972) is an English TV and radio presenter. She is a freelancer with Global Group and currently presents on stations Smooth Radio and Classic FM.
Taylor studied media and communications at the University o ...
*Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was ...
References
External links
Capital Birmingham
Metropolitan House transmitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands
Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom
Radio stations established in 1995
1995 establishments in England